It was a cloudy Friday. I went
down to the canteen, having lunch like usual, being alone when people were
going to Bandung. I ate pecel, my favorite food that always can bring me home
once i feel the bumbu kacang melt in my tounge.
It was a common Friday.
Suddenly Mr Bagus, the
electricity man here, came with a native Japanese that worked for
earthquake-models-of-house project near my dorm. He talked to the Japanese man but
i think Mr xxxxx didn’t really understand english, so Mr Bagus was going back
forth hardly explaining something. Mr Bagus asked me and Kak Ayu also Kak Ega –the
owner of the canteen—to help him talking with the Japanese man. Mr Bagus said
the Japanese man was sick, he had stomachace but Mr Bagus couldn’t help him
because his english was really limited.
The Japanese man said with his
english-japanese languange he had medicine in his room. We wanted to ask him
what medicine did he use. Kak Ega even had an idea to give him an Indonesian
medicine. Then finally an idea popped-up in my head : ‘Kak Ayu please turn on
your laptop, we can communicate with him through Google Translate i think’
The stroy started here.
We typed some sentences then he answered
them with nodding or said no, yes, and just some simple confirmation or denial
like that. We offered him a bowl of porridge but he refused. He said he just
wanted to drink pocari sweat because he often went to the bathroom which means
he had diarrhea. He hadn’t have food today, he just ate a can of fruit coctail
this morning and his sickness was getting worst. He typed in google translate
that he actually brought a lot of ramen and curry but his electricity stuff for
heating water was broken so he couldn’t eat. He even asked about moving to a new
room.
Mr Bagus said it was not the room’s
electricity nor his water heater that broken. Japanese electicity would work in
110v but here in Indonesia we used 220v, that’s why his water heater did not
work. Mr Bagus promised would buy him a new water heater that made in Indonesia
so he could boil water in his room. We still forced him to eat because he
looked so pale. Finally he ate a small bowl of porridge and a cup of hot tea
without any hesitation when he touched the bowl and the cup. I had just realize
that Japanese people loved hot food, he didn’t know that he could order hot
menu too because he could not communicate with others here.
He told us that it was his first
time coming to Indonesia. Ah, that’s why he knew nothing about Bahasa, totally
different with his 2 friends that could speak Bahasa a bit like using some
simple words, ‘tolong’ , ‘pesan’, etc. He was a kind person and also a shy one.
He looked young compared to his 2 friends that looked more senior than him.
He thanked us a lot by keep
bowing and nodding his head and said terima kasih. He typed he felt better
because the food was warm. Kak Ayu replied that if he wanted to eat, he could
come here and ordered another porridge and tea. After the conversation ended,
he typed he would go back to his job then he walked to the construction place
again.
Today i learned something
We’re all human, no matter where
we are, where we came, who we are, what colors we are, black white mongoloid or
maybe have a combination of chinese and pakistan like me hahahah. Language is separating us
from communicating, but it doesn’t affect on our core destiny that human will
always can communicate each other even just with body language or the help of technology
like google translate.
I feel happy because it’s my first time interacting with people who
don’t speak english. So much fun kkkk i wonder how it feels if i join a summer
school or a homestay in Japan or Korea ^^
